Excess Nutrient Problem - need advice

brownrexx · March 15, 2016

Last year a friend of mine in CA purchased all new soil for her raised beds. After having poor growing results with the new soil she had the soil tested. The pH is 6.5, OM is 13.9%, CEC is 34.6

Phosphorus, Potassium, Calcium and Magnesium are all off the scale at the high end.

Purchasing new soil is prohibitively expensive and it does not rain much in southern CA so this year's soil test showed that virtually nothing has leached out of the soil and all values are still off of the chart based on this year's soil test. These are soil tests from a University lab so I feel that they are accurate and she used the same lab for both tests.

Can anyone offer any suggestions on how to get these nutrient values lower?

I was thinking that some type of cover crop might use some of the excess but I don't know which one might be beneficial.

Does anyone have any ideas other than replacing all of the soil?

March 15, 2016	#1
brownrexx Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: Southeastern PA Posts: 1,420	Excess Nutrient Problem - need advice Last year a friend of mine in CA purchased all new soil for her raised beds. After having poor growing results with the new soil she had the soil tested. The pH is 6.5, OM is 13.9%, CEC is 34.6 Phosphorus, Potassium, Calcium and Magnesium are all off the scale at the high end. Purchasing new soil is prohibitively expensive and it does not rain much in southern CA so this year's soil test showed that virtually nothing has leached out of the soil and all values are still off of the chart based on this year's soil test. These are soil tests from a University lab so I feel that they are accurate and she used the same lab for both tests. Can anyone offer any suggestions on how to get these nutrient values lower? I was thinking that some type of cover crop might use some of the excess but I don't know which one might be beneficial. Does anyone have any ideas other than replacing all of the soil?